The possibility of making a vehicle weight saving equivalent to five male adults is the stuff of dreams for most automotive engineers, but that is what Land Rover has achieved with its new generation luxury off-roader.

One of the many system components of concern to OEMs and aftermarket service providers is the elastomeric seals used at the different joints in automotive air-conditioning. One critical aspect of seal performance is permeation, and the material compatibility issues likely to arise in relation to it, due to the new refrigeration chemistry.

QNX Software Systems says Car 2 is the first pre-integrated software stack for car infotainment that leverages the power of HTML5 on a software foundation proven in more than 30 million vehicles worldwide.

The Type 2516B from Kistler is a rugged, handheld engine peak meter designed to support the balancing and diagnostics of large natural gas, marine, and diesel engine cylinder pressure cycles at speeds up to 4000 rpm.

Lighter, longer, lower, stiffer, quicker, more fuel frugal, with enhanced dynamics and cockpit comfort all bringing an altogether more “adult” feel; that sums up the new and much improved generation of the mid-engine two-seat sportscar.

Eaton Corp. is developing a power control system for hybrid-electric vehicles (from passenger cars to commercial vehicles) with the goal of reducing by 50% the size of the battery needed. The company on Aug. 27 announced that the work is part of a $2.8 million project funded jointly by Eaton and the U.S.

General Dynamics acquired the defense operations of Gayston Corp., a privately held company that supplies precision metal components used in several munitions programs. Gayston's defense operations employ 187 people at a facility in Springboro, OH, which is optimized for aluminum impact extrusion manufacturing.

Reducing a vehicle's mass opens the door for a downsized engine and transmission, a lighter cradle and body structure, smaller wheels and brakes, as well as a weight-slimmed suspension. The start point for this ripple effect is materials.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. in Denver has been selected to build and operate the InSight spacecraft. The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission, led by principal investigator Bruce Banerdt of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and managed by JPL.

Lord Corp. announced the signing of an agreement for the acquisition of MicroStrain Inc., a developer and supplier of sensing solutions to the aerospace, defense, agriculture and construction, energy, and consumer electronics markets based in Williston, VT.

General Motors is advancing the state of the art in testing of rear-seat crash test dummies. One of its crash-test engineers, Barbara Bunn, recently developed and conducted tests to evaluate the ability of a new dummy named BioRID to produce consistent measurements when subjected to identical tests.